Tag Archives: state law

JACKSON — Supporters of a constitutional amendment to guarantee “an adequate and efficient system of free public schools” in Mississippi have less than two weeks to turn in signatures if they want their referendum on the 2015 general election ballot. State law says they must turn in at least 107,216 signatures of registered voters at least 90 days before the ...

JACKSON — Jackson Public Schools is joining a lawsuit seeking to recover a shortfall in state education funding and bar future underfunding. The board voted 2-1 yesterday to join, with two abstentions, said spokesman Sherwin Johnson. Jackson alone has been shorted $85 million because of underfunding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program since 2010. The amount at stake among the ...

JACKSON — The parties in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a legislatively imposed cap on how much juries can award in non-economic damages say they have settled the case. Oral arguments had been set for tomorrow in Jackson before the Mississippi Supreme Court. The Supreme Court canceled the hearing and allowed the parties 90 days to finalize the settlement. ...

JACKSON — Gov. Phil Bryant is intervening in a case involving a woman who wants the state to recognize her same-sex marriage in order to grant a divorce. The Republican governor, represented by Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, is opposing Lauren Czekala-Chatham’s appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. The high court said Monday that it would hear the case ...

ACROSS MISSISSIPPI — Five more Mississippi school districts are joining a lawsuit against the state over shortfalls in education funding. With the additions announced yesterday, there are now 19 plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed by former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. Musgrove spokesman George Shelton said the new plaintiffs are school districts in Greene County, Humphreys County, Leland, North Bolivar and West ...

MERIDIAN — The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors has voted to rescind restrictions on individuals from taking firearms into the county annex building. The vote was taken at the recommendation of board attorney Lee Thaggard. Several cities and counties around Mississippi have done the same thing. They have been advised that such bans are in conflict with two state laws ...

JACKSON — A group of lawyers including former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove is traveling Mississippi trying to get school districts to sign up for a lawsuit against the state seeking repayment of the $1.5 billion that the state had underfunded its K-12 school formula in recent years. Backers of a separate effort to write a full-funding requirement into the state Constitution ...

WAVELAND — The city of Waveland has amended its charter to remove a prohibition on casinos. Not that any are planned. “We’re not misleading anybody. We’re not in any negotiations with any casinos,” said Mayor David Garcia. “We just didn’t want it in there. We wanted to remove it as an economic development engine. “Whereas, if Waveland is ever approached ...

JACKSON — A national civil rights group called Human Rights Campaign faces significant challenges as it tries to make Mississippi’s legal climate more open for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents. HRC recently announced that it will spend $8.5 million for its “Project One America” in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, which currently have no laws to prohibit people from being ...

JACKSON — At a leafy college campus in north Mississippi and an upscale dinner club in New York, groups are protesting a Mississippi law that opponents say could sanction discrimination against gays and lesbians. The Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act was signed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in April, and becomes law July 1. The law says government cannot put ...